Page 23 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

One of the first things you see when entering the trial field are the runner beans and climbing French Beans. Rachel, one of the staff members explained that shortly after they were planted out the pigeons descended on the young plants and stripped them back to almost the ground. Looking at them now you would
evidence on them that I could see. They are also reckoned to be of a non-bulbing variety, which appeals to me personally. This is a new variety in both the Mr Fothergill’s and Johnsons range.
As with all field trials it is difficult to gauge the size, condition etc. of root crops with them being
improved pest and disease resistance. These should have been producing beans by now but like so many of
the other plants being trialled, they were slightly backward due to the indifferent growing conditions but were producing an abundance of flower with some very tiny beans developing.
Unlike a lot of my onions that I grew here in Lewes and of which most have bolted, the trial onions were bulking up very nicely and reaching a good size. There were a couple of rows of reselected Kelsae and I was advised that there may be a limited supply of seed available this year under the Mr Fothergill’s banner. There was a new variety of red onion, also under the Mr Fothergill’s banner called Redspark F1, which is said to have good resistance to mildew and stores well. These have a good looking globe shape and are of a medium size.
not have known, as they were in full flower and fruiting well. Runner Bean St George with its red and white coloured flowers would make
by their very nature, underground. Rachel was kind enough to
take a fork to the carrot plot where she dug up a sample of Speedo, Sweet Candle and Volcano carrots. With the carrots growing in open ground together with stones etc. under the soil one had to ignore the variances in
shape, imperfections and branching of these samples. What was noticeable however was the degree of stump forming on Speedo and
Sweet Candle, which
were both at about the
same stage of growth,
with maybe a couple
of the Speedo having a
more pronounced stump.
Speedo is definitely
one that I shall grow
alongside Sweet Candle
next year.
The dwarf bean plots
included two new
varieties including one called Elba which was said to produce lots of be flavourful stringless beans with
an attractive addition
to any garden and was
producing reasonably
long fleshy pods, and
tasted good when
picked and eaten raw.
A possible contender to French Bean Cobra is French Bean Python, also
Onion Exhibition
Speedo is definitely one that I shall grow alongside Sweet Candle next year
a climbing variety and which was producing smooth pencil shaped pods of a reasonable length and snapped cleanly.
One area that was disappointing were the brassica plots. It was explained that the poor growth was basically down to the variance in weather conditions, with spells of hot and cold together with periods of dry and torrential rain. The actual condition of the plants was good but there was no decent size to them.
There was an impressive array of leeks, in particular the variety Autora F1. It is said to be resistant to rust, and there was certainly no
Being rather partial
to little gem and cos
type lettuce and not being over keen on
salad leaves or the butterhead varieties of lettuce, I did notice a new lettuce called Little Gem (Pasatiempo) that has exceptional vigour, sweet flavour and crisp tight heads. Again, this is another one that I shall
most definitely grow next year.
I mentioned earlier that I am not a great fan of salad leaves however
I am not a great fan of salad leaves however I do enjoy eating microgreens
Simply Vegetables 23